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Thursday, July 12, 2012

What If . . . the food you eat isn't REAL food?

The Velveteen Rabbit asked "what is REAL." We need to askourselves what foods we purchase and consume are actually REAL!

"What is REAL?" asked the (toy Velveteen) Rabbit one day. . .

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse.
"It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves
you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but
REALLY loves you, then you become Real. . .

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse.

"You become. It takes a long time. . .Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

If you are not familiar with it, or just want to get reacquainted with these lovable critters, click here. (But please return to this site when you are finished)

As Dave and I have begun eating healthier (and already feeling better as a result) we are doing quite a bit of research and what we are learning is pretty shocking. Much of what we are buying at fast-food places and restaurants is NOT real food. The same goes for the food you eat at home if most of it is bought already prepared, rather than being cooked from "scratch." These processed foods are what author Michael Pollan refers to as

“edible food-like substances”—

no longer the products of nature but of food science.'"

What is REAL? is what we need to discover. Most processed foods that fill the grocery shelves today are manufactured!!!

Manufactured foods started appearing following World War II. And, unfortunately like so much of our "progress," what starts out as a great thing quickly becomes not so great.

Packaged foods are made in a plant --- even if they originated as a plant. They are so highly processed that most of their original goodness---the nutrients---have been depleted and replaced with many preservatives and other ingredients (can't call these food either). In the many stages of processing, even their flavors have been eliminated....and then replaced. It was sad to discover that a product's flavor comes not from nature and not even from test kitchens, but from closely guarded laboratories---and scary to learn that both "natural" and artificial flavors are created in the same laboratories where basically their only differences are "technical."

Reality in our food production is stranger than fiction ---- and many times scarier than a horror story.

I have posted previously on a few of these edible food-like substancesand feel the need to share, and continue to share, what we are learning.

and from an older post from when my blog first started: I LOVE to READ posted under Notes to Mom

“Twinkie, Deconstructed” by Steve Ettlinger, an interesting and easy read --- “a fascinating exploration into the curious world of packaged foods. . . takes us from phosphate mines in Idaho to cornfields in Iowa, from gypsum mines in Oklahoma to oil fields in China, to demystify some of American’s most common processed food ingredients—where they came from, how they are made, how they are used—and why. Beginning at the source (hint: the ingredients are often more closely linked to rocks and petroleum than any of the four food groups), Ettlinger reveals how each Twinkie ingredient goes through the process of being crushed, baked, fermented, refined, and /or reacted into a totally unrecognizable goo or powder with a strange name—all for the sake of creating a simple snack cake.”

If this makes you want to boycott commercial Twinkies but still crave them, go to your search engine and type in “twinkie recipe.” There are several. The filling I use is from my recipe for Ho Ho cake — a copy cat of another multi- (mostly unnecessary) ingredient snack cake.

"Food Rules: An eater's manual"by Michael Pollan is a tiny book that adds a little wit to its wisdom with suggestions such as "don't eat anything your great grandma wouldn't eat, avoid foods containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry, and avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce." + 61 more ways to healthier eating.

GRAS

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a list of approximately 700 food additives which they label "generally recognized as safe (GRAS), many of which have not undergone any testing!

"Congress further defines a safe additive as one about which there is "reasonable certainty that no harm will result from use." Some substances that are found to be harmful to people or animals may be allowed, but only at the level of 1/1ooth of the amount that is considered harmful.

"In the United States more than 3,000 substances can be added to foods for the purposes of preservation, coloring, texture, flavor and more. It's this stuff that makes a 100-calorie cup of yogurt taste like key lime pie or enables a cream-filled cake to remain edible for decades. "

Wow! I am so pleased and thankful you find my blog helpful. You certainly have my full permission to "spread the word."

While I have had strong feelings about the importance of all the "ings" of life I have posted on the past year, I am really passionate about what we are learning and the need to spread the awareness of what is going on with manufactured food. I am afraid too many of us are very naive.

About Me

I said "I Do" followed quickly by "Now What?" I knew nothing except how to sew and make chocolate chip cookies. Convenience foods were a novelty, not a way of life. There were no cooking shows on the black and white TV. Most girls babysat. Not me! Not once! There was no way to sample the waters. It was jump in and either sink or swim.

Fast forward 49 years and six kids!

Over time, through trial and error, I have somehow become a "go-to" in matters homemaking---sharing what I have learned; all simple, practical and inexpensive. Things YOU can do that will make a difference in these increasingly challenging times.

If this is the first time you have visited this site, I have a favor. Please click on and read my first three posts: